Mel Rohse is brushing up her CV as she hunts for a job. Photograph: University of Bradford

Mel Rohse, PhD in peace studies

I recently had an interesting conversation with a lecturer at the University of Birmingham. As I was telling her about the difficulties I had encountered in my job hunt so far, she offered some thoughts from her own experience. She suggested that, with the REF (Research Excellence Framework) just over, departments may start to look for younger academics to invest in, rather than focusing mainly on recruiting chairs, readers and professors.

My job searches this month have indeed returned a lot more lectureships and entry-level jobs than in January, although it doesn't take away the huge amount of competition for each post. I've just heard that I haven't been shortlisted for a job I applied for last month and was told that "there was a great deal of interest in this post". In the guidance on applying for another job, I was warned that due to the high volume of applications, I should assume I was not shortlisted if I didn't hear from the employer within four weeks.

One of the skills I try to encourage and develop in my Brilliant Club students is resilience. In the current job market it's a skill I need too, and after opening the refusal email, I tried to remind myself of Oliver Burkeman's words: "Failure is an inevitable consequence of the human condition. It's how we deal with it that's important." The real challenge, faced with a rejection letter, is to be able to learn from what didn't work out.

In the short term, I've already taken some steps to improve my applications. Over the last month, I've used lots of great tips I've found online to work on my CV. As I've applied for a few more jobs and done quite a bit of thinking about my transferable skills, although I still find personal statements the hardest. I need more practice at balancing the need for brevity with the requirements of proving I meet often long lists of essential and desirable criteria.

Tomorrow I'll email the career adviser at my university to get some feedback on my application, find out whether I've properly tailored my CV to the job spec and get some help analysing what I could have done differently.

The more I look at job adverts, the more aware I am that I need a long-term strategy to really improve my chances of getting an academic job. At the moment, writing articles and networking are at the top of my list. Neither is going to happen overnight, though, and I'm arming myself with patience as I juggle my part-time non-academic work with the essential activities of the young academic's life.

Goal for March: Sign up to conferences and networking events.

Dean D'Souza has won a six-month grant, giving him time to write up his research. Photograph: Birkbeck, University of London

Dean D'Souza, PhD in cognitive neuroscience

February's goal was to secure funding for the next few months to work on extra data I collected that I haven't had time to analyse, write up, and publish. Great news! An organisation called the Williams Syndrome Foundation (WSF) has decided to provide my maintenance for six months, so I can analyse and publish these extra data. I recruited a large proportion of my research participants (infants and toddlers) through the WSF, so I'm extremely grateful to the organisation as well as the families it serves. Organisations such as the WSF seem to really recognise the importance of infant research.

If I use the six months to submit papers, then I will be in a much stronger position when applying for funding and postdocs. But before I begin this six-month period, I want to make a concerted effort to finish my PhD. Hence, my goal for March/April is to submit my thesis (much later than planned!) and set a date for the viva.

Easier said than done, though. As a research scientist, I am frequently torn between two conflicting sets of motivations. The first is to engage with the wider community – exchange knowledge, teach students, offer support and advice. The second is to publish studies.

Both are important. However, in science the researcher is mostly (only?) evaluated on the latter. In fact, the value or relative "quality" of a researcher is often judged using something called the h-index; if a researcher has an h-index of 10, then it means that 10 of her publications have 10 or more citations each. This has led to a culture of "publish or perish" , in which (especially young) scientists are under pressure to publish rapidly – at the expense of everything else.

Nevertheless, today I presented my research to families who have a child with a genetic syndrome (fragile X). I believe it's vital for scientists to engage with other members of the community. Not only is it important to share your discoveries (and thoughts) with both scientists and non-scientists alike, but also meeting others can help shape your research. For example, at this family conference, the families I met taught me about the specific problems they face, while I showed them evidence of "invisible" factors that may affect their child's brain and cognitive development. I think we all gained something from the experience. I certainly obtained a greater appreciation for what I'm doing and why.

I'm giving another talk in a couple of weeks' time to clinicians (medical doctors, clinical psychologists and psychiatrists) in the NHS, so it's going to be a busy month. But writing up my thesis is now my number one priority.

Goal for March: Complete and submit my thesis.

We'll be following Mel and Dean's search for a job over the next six months. Post any questions or advice you have in the comments below.